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Washington state bridge collapse could point to bigger problems

Rescue workers look over the scene after a portion of the Interstate 5 bridge collapsed into the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, Wash., on Thursday. (Rick Lund, The Seattle Times)

WASHINGTON — The collapse of an interstate bridge in Washington state brings new attention to the limits of the country's infrastructure, especially older structures that were designed with little room for error and were never intended to carry the number of cars and trucks they see today.

A 160-foot section of the 58-year-old four-lane steel truss bridge, which carries Interstate 5 across the Skagit River about an hour north of Seattle, crumpled about 7 p.m. Thursday, apparently after being struck by a truck carrying an oversize load, state officials said.

Nobody was killed. The three people in two vehicles that fell into the water escaped with only minor injuries, but the accident severed the West Coast's main transportation artery 50 miles south of the Canadian border in advance of the Memorial Day weekend. The route usually carries an average of 71,000 cars a day.

Photos: I-5 Bridge Collapse

Officials are trying to find out whether the spectacular collapse was a fluke or a sign of a bigger problem with thousands of bridges across the U.S.

The Skagit River bridge had not been judged unsafe or structurally deficient, according to inspection records. The bridge and its approach lanes, totaling just more than 1,100 feet, were considered to be past their useful life span, meaning that the time had arrived for a bigger, broader structure.

But even calling a bridge structurally deficient does not necessarily mean that it is unsafe, federal officials often point out. It only means that at least one major component has deteriorated.

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A report released Friday by the Washington state Department of Transportation details a special inspection performed six months ago on the bridge because there were indications it had been struck by another vehicle. The report detailed a variety of other problems with the bridge, including vegetation growing in panels, and rust.

"Obviously, this is a bridge that has lived a very long life," Deborah A.M. Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Friday. But, she added, based on performance and inspection records, "It has been healthy throughout that life."

Bridge experts said the I-5 bridge shares a design feature with thousands of other bridges across the country that make them more vulnerable to failure. The bridge was fracture-critical, which means there is no redundancy in the structure — if one component fails, the whole bridge can collapse.

It's a scenario that has happened before, and experts say it will happen again if older, obsolete bridges are not replaced or reinforced.

"This is a repetitive story that's going to play out again like a horrible nightmare," said Barry LePatner, a New York construction lawyer who has identified nearly 8,000 of the country's most troublesome spans.

A 40-year-old interstate bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed into the Mississippi River in 2007 also had a fracture-critical design. Thirteen people were killed.

Another fracture-critical bridge over the Ohio River between Louisville, Ky., and New Albany, Ind., was closed for several months in 2011 after inspectors discovered a hidden crack that could have proved disastrous. Engineers reinforced the structure for a fraction of the cost of replacement, and LePatner said that a bridge like the one on I-5 similarly could have been made stronger.

"Government officials have failed to fund needed maintenance, and these bridges have long passed their intended life span," he said.

Building America's Future, an advocacy group founded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and two former governors, Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, also issued a statement characterizing the bridge collapse as a "call to action."

"Regardless of how this happened, the collapse of the Skagit River Bridge in Washington State is a timely reminder of our nation's need to invest in critical infrastructure upgrades," Rendell said. "Our nation's bridges, roads and highways are deteriorating before our eyes."

At a news conference Friday, Washington Secretary of Transportation Lynn Peterson said that only the section of the bridge that collapsed would be rebuilt. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the repair would cost $15 million. Replacement could cost many times more.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Friday that $1 million in emergency federal funds would be available to help repair the bridge.

But the bridge will reopen with the same narrow lanes and low clearances it always had. It predates the interstate system and was not constructed to federal standards for interstates.

Many of such bridges on the interstate system, including this one and others on I-5, were "grandfathered in," said Sean McNally, a spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, an industry group.

"This is designed to a different era," he said.

Pat Natale, executive director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said it wouldn't be enough just to patch over the problem and move on. The civil engineers group recently gave the country's infrastructure a "D-plus," and he said improving it should start with aggressive upkeep.

"The problem is when we get into tight financial situations, we cut maintenance and inspections," Natale said. "When we find a condition like this, we need to act more quickly."

Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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